Hugh Pemberton

@hugh-pemberton.bsky.social

1.3K followers 540 following 410 posts

Recent British history is my thing (political, governmental, economic); armchair strategic studies my secret vice. Emeritus Prof at Bristol. Sometime historian of the UK civil service, more recently of Thatcherism. But often on my allotment these days .. more

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Hugh R. Pemberton, FRHistS, is an academic historian specialising in the late twentieth-century British politics and British social and economic policy. As of 2018, he is Professor of Contemporary British History at the University of Bristol. .. more

Political science 54%

Economics 32%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 1d

"We’re about 200 yards away here from the first Peabody estate which is the birth of social housing in this country and yet around the corner we’re having to start again"
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Crisis charity to become a landlord in attempt to rectify ‘catastrophic’ housing in UK

Exclusive: Homelessness charity planning to buy properties as it can no longer rely on access to social housing

www.theguardian.com

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 1d

Best take so far on the BBC farrago from @stephenkb.bsky.social. BBC News is fundamentally important to Britons but would be easier to defend if its quality was better. That's not about "bias". It's about money, poor management, editorial misjudgements, and a persistent failure to learn from errors

Good morning. My thanks to Chris, Jen, David, Simon and Georgina for their excellent newsletters while I was away for my anniversary (the big 10, which I think is “tin”).

ep.ft.com

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 6d

"The problem for the government is that, having identified the [Brexit] problem, it does not have proposals to make a significant change to the UK’s economic relationship with the EU."
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/rach...

Rachel Reeves cannot start to blame Brexit now for her economic fix | Institute for Government

Why is the government talking about Brexit and the economy again?

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 11d

As the average age of Conservative voters rises inexorably towards death and the party spurns the centre ground in favour of a journey to far-right irrelevance, Conservatives would do well to read this concise and insightful speech by John Major (h/t @stephenkb.bsky.social)

Sir John Major’s Remarks at Conservative Party Lunch – 28 October 2025 – The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

johnmajorarchive.org.uk

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 16d

Oof. Chris Giles on Laffer et al: "a curious mixture of ... voodoo policies more extreme than those discredited by the 1980s Reagan administration and multiple examples of the bankruptcy of ideas that led the Conservative government to be defeated in the 2024 general election" on.ft.com/3J8FRHN

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 16d

🤣

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 17d

Honestly, BBC News, who actually cares about this apart from the people involved and a few journalists who can't get over the fact they went to Oxford?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Oxford Union president survives vote after successor ousted

The ballot followed ousting of successor George Abaraonye over Charlie Kirk death comments.

www.bbc.co.uk

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 17d

Oh, for God's sake - we have been talking about a tunnel for the A303 at Stonehenge since at least the 1960s. It finally gets planning permission only to be cancelled?
BBC News - A303: Planning permission for Stonehenge tunnel could be revoked - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A303: Planning permission for Stonehenge tunnel could be revoked

The government scrapped the plan for financial reasons and could now formally revoke planning consent.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Hugh Pemberton, Juan Cole, Steven Fielding , and 1 more Hugh Pemberton, Juan Cole, Steven Fielding, Eoin Daly

Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 17d

why are people on the left using "populist" in a positive way now, you shouldn't want your politicians to be populists, "populism" isn't good

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 18d

open.substack.com/pub/worksinp...

The genius of the amateur

The greatest breakthroughs often come from outsiders who can take a fresh perspective

open.substack.com

Reposted by Hugh Pemberton, Patrick O’Brien

Ben Yong @bymyong.bsky.social · 19d

If anyone is interested
ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/02/13/b...

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 26d

This made me laugh

Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 26d

The tribune of justice: my SKETCH of another PMQs where Kemi, well, Kemi-ed.

The tribune of justice | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine

“Exactly as I expected!” Kemi Badenoch was triumphant! The prime minister, she was delighted to be telling the House of Commons, had walked right into her trap. Which left the question of why she was…

thecritic.co.uk

Reposted by Hugh Pemberton

Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 26d

The tribune of justice: my SKETCH of another PMQs where Kemi, well, Kemi-ed.

The tribune of justice | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine

thecritic.co.uk

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 28d

GWR - please stop running 5 car trains in the rush hour on lines out of London. Or at any time of the day, frankly
@gwr.com

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · 28d

The Guardian's hatred of Tony Blair is something to behold. It has only conceded in two pieces that the TB Institute played a role in devising the Trump Gaza peace plan. One described it as "hallucinatory" the other as "fatally flawed". Worth bookmarking for a good laugh if it actually works!

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Oct 11

Excellent piece from Andy Haldane. TL;DR slavish adherence to "ironclad fiscal rules" that are actually harming the economy violates Dennis Healey's First Law of Holes: when you find yourself in one, stop digging
on.ft.com/46LzBP5 via @FT

The UK’s failing fiscal framework is a Brexit tribute act

Policy uncertainty over the past year eerily mimics sentiment at the time of the 2016 referendum

on.ft.com

Reposted by Hugh Pemberton

Nick Pearce @iprnickp.bsky.social · Oct 8

Are we witnessing the end of the One Nation tradition in the Conservative Party? What is that tradition? Here’s my article on Constructing Disraeli in Twentieth-Century Conservatism* url: academic.oup.com/ehr/article/...

Constructing Disraeli in Twentieth-Century Conservatism*

Abstract. Since the 1960s, when historians first dethroned the dominant view of Benjamin Disraeli as a Tory democrat and social reformer, his association w

academic.oup.com

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Oct 8

We could get rid of half of aviation's global warming impact by eliminating contrails. You could achieve 80% of the reduction by rerouting just 3% of flights - so the cost would be relatively low. The impact would be almost immediate.
open.substack.com/pub/hannahri...

Eliminating contrails from flying could be incredibly cheap

Could we halve aviation's climate impact at a fraction of the cost of sustainable aviation fuels?

open.substack.com

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Oct 8

Excellent Stephen Bush piece on why Robert Jenrick would be a disastrous Conservative leader, and why his racism is bad for the whole country
ep.ft.com/permalink/em...

Reposted by Ben H. Ansell, Hugh Pemberton, Steven Fielding

YouGov @yougov.co.uk · Oct 7

Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention (5-6 October 2025)

Reform UK: 27% (-2 from 28-29 Sept)
Labour: 20% (-2)
Conservatives: 17% (+1)
Lib Dems: 17% (+2)
Greens: 12% (+1)
SNP: 4% (+1)

yougov.co.uk/topics/polit...

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Oct 7

This piece from @peterhyman.bsky.social is very good on why political parties need to focus less on crafting policy-based sound bites and press releases and more on making the argument for change
open.substack.com/pub/peterhym...

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Oct 7

But Bolt is ... Estonian

Reposted by Hugh Pemberton

Political Quarterly @politicalquarterly.bsky.social · Oct 7

For Labour, a party system in which its principal rival is Reform would be a much worse political outcome for everything the party cares about than if the Conservatives retained their position, argues Ben Jackson, co-editor of the Political Quarterly.

politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/nigel-f...

Nigel Farage is no Ramsay MacDonald: Comparing the Rise of Reform with the Rise of Labour

It is hard not to suspect that arresting the rise of Reform could be beyond the powers of both current party leaders.

politicalquarterly.org.uk

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Oct 7

My thought too. Though I'd still hesitate to place an actual bet on that - the party has such a history of reinvention and such a ling track record of electoral success that it's hard to imagine them not coming back from this

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Oct 6

It's hard to look at the rows of empty seats greeting Conservative "big hitters" addressing an unprecedentedly small conference hall and think the chances of Conservative survival as a major political force are anything but somewhere between low and zero

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Oct 6

Do we actually need traditional taxis any more, though? Frankly, the best thing about Uber, Bolt etc is no longer having to sit in the back of black cabs with an angry driver forcing his opinions down your throat, and paying a small fortune for the privilege

Call to limit app driver numbers 'to protect London black cabs'

The number of black cab drivers has fallen by a third while private hire numbers double.

www.bbc.com

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Oct 2

More evidence that Labour are losing fewer voters to Reform than they are to the Greens and Lib Dems. Also, interestingly, Labour defectors to Reform are less likely to return than are Conservative defectors
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

The story behind the polls

Who's changed their mind since the 2024 election and why?

open.substack.com

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Sep 30

This fascinating, long and data-rich analysis from @benansell.bsky.social makes a simple point: Labour should be worrying a lot more about its loss of electoral support to the Lib Dems and Greens and a lot less about Reform
open.substack.com/pub/benansel...

British Politics' Midlife Crisis

Why British Parties Can't Make Peace with Their Actual Voters

open.substack.com

Hugh Pemberton @hugh-pemberton.bsky.social · Sep 27

They definitely have a very different approach to the integration issue to the UK - not so dissimilar to the UK approach of 50 years ago, of course. What's interesting about the Burn-Murdoch piece is that UK and other politicians are now so much further away from traditional views than their voters

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